Fans of Liverpool, Manchester United and various other clubs took to Twitter today after Christian Benteke favourited a tweet suggesting he could transfer to our bitter rivals…
He’s been heavily linked with us all summer (such as here in the Daily Mail), and some took it as a direct indication of his preference to join United instead of us, now we’ve sold Raheem Sterling to Manchester City for a whopping fee.
You can see a print-screen of Benteke favouring the tweet here:
However, it doesn’t look as if the Belgian striker is closing on an Old Trafford switch, despite the internet hint.
First, respected journalist Kristof Terreur of Belgian outlet HLN claimed that Benteke’s tweet was simply a mistake.
Explanation: Benteke accidentally favorited the tweet. End of the story.
— Kristof Terreur (@HLNinEngeland) July 15, 2015
More concrete though was Sport Witness‘s exclusive report having spoken to the player’s agent Kismet Eris, who told them any link to Louis van Gaal’s side was ‘not true at all’.
Another way of interpreting the Benteke tweet favourite would be an ironic reaction from the player to the suggestion that he’d be Wayne Rooney’s backup.
‘he’s exactly what we need tbh, just needs to be backup to Rooney. [sic],’ read @FutbolFinn’s statement, which when you look into it, can actually be regarded as somewhat of a backhanded compliment.